HARARE, Zimbabwe - Official inflation soared to 2.2 million percent in Zimbabwe — by far the highest in the world — and has shot as high as 70 million percent in the past year for some basic goods sold on the black market, the nation's central bank said Thursday. Worsening shortages of basic goods, and the deadly political and economic turmoil surrounding the national elections March 29 and a disputed presidential runoff vote June 27, helped spur the spike in inflation in recent months. The last announcement of official annual inflation, in February, put the rate at 165,000 percent.

Zimbabwe Reserve Bank Gov. Gideon Gono announced the new figure of 2.2 million percent at the launch of a program to sell subsidized food through selected shops and a system of coupons issued to the needy, state radio reported Thursday. The central bank also released a schedule showing what it called distortions in prices caused by black market trading and profiteering by businesses. It said laundry soap on the black market went up by 70 million percent, cooking oil by 60 million percent and sugar by 36 million percent — far higher than the official inflation rate of 2.2 million percent calculated by the Central Statistical Office on basic goods subject to price regulation and price increases approved by state National Prices and Incomes Commission. The last word i can say is everybody is a millionaire in Zimbabwe.